How much time do you spend screwin' around with equipment/software vs imaging

[Kilohertz]

I decided last October to get back into Astronomy after a 40 year hiatus.  I realized right away it was going to be a steep learning curve but I thought no problem, I've been building computers since about 1978 and into photography since about 1975 and was right into astronomy in the late 70's. 

Well holy shxt was I ever wrong! In the last 4 months I have spent $4000, I have had exactly 2 nights of image capture, mind you the weather has been absolute crap for 3 months, but still, I have spent 90% of my time screwin around with software, computers, mounts, drivers, errors, Windoze issues, software problems etc., it seems the art of photography and image capture has been greatly diluted by technology. When I was in gr10 I went to Yakima WA in 1979 with the local college for the solar eclipse and had a blast. I had a lens from a telescope with a piece of #12 welding glass in front of it, 35mm film camera, probably my old Minolta SRT-201, b&w film, I shot about 72 frames and when I got home I developed my own film and went into my darkroom to make the prints, I still have them and just came across them yesterday. It was a great sense of satisfaction. I know the images I captured were no where near as good as could be had today, but it was WAY more enjoyable, it was actually an astronomy hobby, not a computer hobby.

Anyway, I was just wondering if any of you are in the same boat, completely frustrated with the whole image capture process? I know live observing hasn't changed much but I'm getting too old to be standing around stooped over a scope in -10 weather.

Thanks for listening to my "rant". Your thoughts?

Paul

PS Feb 26th, 1979 eclipse below

 

[wimvb]

When I started with astrophotography, I certainly spent more nights solving problems than capturing data. But the last few years, I've had very few problems. Mind you  the problems that I do encounter are more subtle. I guess that is the learning curve.

[SteveNickolls]

Hi Paul, thanks for your post. You will have been rightly pleased to capture those images of the eclipse. The hobby has moved on and despite the present costs is more affordable now to more people and technology has come on in leaps and bounds though it mostly involves a computer or more somewhere along the line. That can be either off-putting or an added interest to astronomy since it allows so much more. Sometimes I wonder how far removed we might get with the AI ability to make changes to images and if it crosses the invisible 'cheating line' of letting the technology produce something that isn't there (and would we know anyway?) but that's a whole other avenue and views will range over that.

There has lately been frustration over the poor weather, certainly in the UK it has dramatically curtailed the number of sessions possible. In response my hobby has diversified to include lunar and white light solar imaging on a shoe string using older gear repurposed to get me back under the sky. Pehaps the least affected by the weather is radio astrostonomy, the detection and recording of meteor trails, again using parts from DIY stores and a small software defined radio, but again it relies upon a computer to run. Others in the hobby instinctively go for their wallets and retail therapy which last a wee while until there's no dark, clear sky to image under.

You could still use your old photography gear and try to replicate under the coming eclipse-there's a lot more choice now. Alternatively you could watch the event on the Internet.

So to sum up I'm not frustrated by image processing or computers but by the weather. I do hope you can feel that you can return to this satisfying hobby out under the stars.

Cheers,
Steve

Edited February 21 by SteveNickolls

[happy-kat]

Love your eclipse photo.

[Elp]

Unless there's an issue with the software, power generally little to none. It's why I bought an Asiair and use more than one. They JUST WORK (when they want to). I didn't want to do what you've had to deal with, literally plug and play and off you go. Completely transformed my AP from the moment I bought one.

Edited February 21 by Elp

[iantaylor2uk]

Agree with the last post. When I first started 20 odd years ago, we had sensors that were 10 times smaller and mounts without goto. It took ages to find objects. Also you had to use a laptop and there were cables everywhere. Using an ASIAIR mini pc controlled by an android tablet means I'm up and running in 10 mins and it usually just works. 

Some people try to do imaging with a Mac PC - don't do this unless you want heaps of hassle.

Edited February 21 by iantaylor2uk
Typo

[rl]

I too am an electronics/computer engineer...and fully sympathise with the OP.

One of the beauties of visual astronomy is the complete lack of technology..just you, the scope and the stars. No broken wires, no unexpected windows updates, no flat batteries, no USB lockups...

[Xilman]

9 minutes ago, rl said:

I too am an electronics/computer engineer...and fully sympathise with the OP.

One of the beauties of visual astronomy is the complete lack of technology..just you, the scope and the stars. No broken wires, no unexpected windows updates, no flat batteries, no USB lockups...

You are quite correct about the beauty.

However, I do most of my "screwin' around" with hardware during daylight when I tend not to be looking through telescopes anyway. For example, one day (not night) I clobbered the Windows registry in such a way that it is unable to perform Windows updates without my explicitly asking for them (in daylight, of course).

[Richard N]

17 minutes ago, rl said:

I too am an electronics/computer engineer...and fully sympathise with the OP.

One of the beauties of visual astronomy is the complete lack of technology..just you, the scope and the stars. No broken wires, no unexpected windows updates, no flat batteries, no USB lockups...

No dew strap?

[M40]

5 hours ago, Kilohertz said:

Well holy shxt was I ever wrong! In the last 4 months I have spent $4000, I have had exactly 2 nights of image capture,

🤣 thanks for brightening up yet another very dull and damp day.

My current percentage has got to be 99% thinking about it and 1% doing it. I try to think about ways to speed up the setup to gain an advantage over the weather, but putting it into practice is another thing. All the best 

[Cosmic Geoff]

If you have a Seestar S50 for imaging, you don't have to struggle with cables, software and tech and don't have to spend hours processing, unless you really want to.

[AstroMuni]

1 hour ago, M40 said:

My current percentage has got to be 99% thinking about it and 1% doing it.

Thats definitely the situation due to the weather here 😞 and by the time I get to the stage of going out and setting up the scope my planning is out of date !

 

6 hours ago, Kilohertz said:

Anyway, I was just wondering if any of you are in the same boat, completely frustrated with the whole image capture process? I know live observing hasn't changed much but I'm getting too old to be standing around stooped over a scope in -10 weather.

Technology has helped me a lot in this regard. I have an RPi sitting outside in the cold and I can remain inside the house remotely accessing it. This would not have been easily achievable (say) 10 years ago, if at all.

Edited February 21 by AstroMuni

[Owmuchonomy]

It took me a year or two but it then dawned on me that life is way too short to do DSO imaging.  I can scrape through on Solar System imaging with the minimum of fuss.  For me, it's way more rewarding to help others enjoy Astronomy hence my place now.  It must work; we have had one BBC News report and BBC Newsround filming us in the last two weeks.  Don't get me wrong, I admire those greatly that heap all their energies onto imaging in its current form but it's so incredibly time consuming for little reward in my view.  There's something about a youngster jumping up to the scope to see Saturn's rings for the first time.

[Kilohertz]

4 hours ago, Xilman said:

You are quite correct about the beauty.

However, I do most of my "screwin' around" with hardware during daylight when I tend not to be looking through telescopes anyway. For example, one day (not night) I clobbered the Windows registry in such a way that it is unable to perform Windows updates without my explicitly asking for them (in daylight, of course).

Love your signature.

[Guest]

Totally agree Paul, and lovely film work too.  Fortunately there are some options today to help if you don't mind giving up some control for ease of use.

As mentioned, the asiair is a great software integration solution.  But it does have limits, notably it's ecosystem which only includes zwo cameras filter wheels and autofocusers.

There are fully automated one like the seestar which is a wonderful kit for it's price points.  Again there are limitations if you can live with them.

Personally, I gave up on windows.  Hardware wise, there are good guide systems (never got along with oags myself) and mounts have come a long way.  But as you found out you still have to spend significant bucks for something reliable.

The good news is that patience does pay eventually.  Once you get yours sorted the weather will be your only real enemy. 😏

[900SL]

It started off like that, 90% cursing, kicking rocks and ranting at the equipment and 10% imaging, which was usually rubbish anyway, now, after a couple of years or so it's down to about 10%

By coincidence facebook popped up an image from February 2022 I took in Dammam, light pollution, dust and using an FMA 180 and Nikon unmodded from memory. It had me thinking how much I have come on from those early days

 

 

[Kilohertz]

@900SL Bubble nebula? I tried that on Saturday but my max exposure on the camera is 60s, I used ISO 1600, all I got was a nice star field but they were razor sharp. 🤪

cheers

 

[Kilohertz]

I just found the negatives from the trip to Yakima for the eclipse, I just recalled it was broken cloud cover that day and we were loading into/out of the bus driving around looking for a clear spot, we found it after totality. 🙄 I was in grade 10, 16 years old.

Edited February 21 by Kilohertz

[ONIKKINEN]

I do mobile imaging only, by traveling to a darker location just under an hour away so there are always time losses to setting up and just getting there and back.

The average night is somewhere around 50% efficient, with my best and longest nights probably not more than 70% - by this efficiency i mean i leave home at 23:00, return and finish post night maintenance (drying things, recharging batteries and such) by 07:00 and of those 8 hours spent working only 4 get put into a stack.

I dont really get many surprises or other new technical issues with kit, but the basic operations just take time.

[Elp]

I think on the setup side if you practice putting it together and taking it apart, this becomes routine like clockwork. I have to setup and breakdown each time, I can pretty much do it with my eyes closed as I know by placement and feel where each piece of equipment is within my bag and where it goes back (it helps to have everything in one bag if possible too). All my airs, cables and spacer rings are in a small hard case so I don't leave anything behind.

The software side then becomes easy as there's nothing to think about, just do one after the other, rough focus, PA, plan, guide calibrate, fine focus and start. It helps to minimise the unnecessary things people concern themselves with too often (unnecessary automation for one, observatory setups are different but most of us don't have observatories, keep it simple).

Edited February 21 by Elp

[Swoop1]

I enjoy (grudgingly) the processes involved in imaging from start to finish.

My most time consuming element is the actual setting up and avoiding cable tangle. This is despite having a permanant pier which my mout sits on 24/7.

[woldsman]

There's a lot of hassle but the good nights, when they happen, are sublime. I'm not sure astrophotograpy is so very different to other things that at times have proved frustrating and expensive in terms of time and money.  Life is basically an interrogation. There is the hard treatment and the soft treatment. When you get the opportunity, enjoy the soft treatment. The hard treatment is coming along again sure enough. 

[Albir phil]

Yeah each bit of new equipment dose tend to make another problem, but that's the way of this hobby we are in. It also causes problems with the wallet,but we still carry on🤗